Medical Workers! Heed This Warning!

I found this quote from a doctor. While I'm aware that medical people probably get superior care as opposed to the care we insignificant "other" patients get, you don't know how some young know-it-all upstart might treat EVEN A DOCTOR once you are in their clutches... The following quote is from "Doc99" in the comments section of the link provided.
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"- Here's a frightening thought - sooner or later, you will also be a patient. Be afraid. Be very afraid."

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Here's the link to the article which this comment follows;The art of practicing template medicine

I read this article because of the way *I* was treated at the hospital. 'EVERYBODY WHO WALKS THROUGH THE DOORS GETS VERSED!" (patient relations nurse) Or "99% OF MY PATIENTS GET VERSED." (crna) This is more of the "template" medicine. Medical staff likes the drug because it makes their lives ever so easy! They manufacture spurious reasons to use it which have nothing to do with the patients themselves, only green money and easy money. Just to be clear, green money in the form of excessive extra charges for sedation and easy money for knocking people in the head and then being able to ignore them, their pain, and their dignity are not patient benefits! These are benefits for the STAFF!

Response From A Reader!

Don't hate this person because they are in "health care!" They wrote me in response to an e-mail I sent to a bunch of people on my "list" about another place to complain to about the wholesale use of the destructive drug Versed. I won't be putting the organizations name up because IMMEDIATELY they would be deluged with outraged health care workers/drug pushers/charlatans and the rest of their ilk. We now have somebody to field our complaints WITHOUT people like Insane Nurse rushing over there and "counter posting." So, here is my friends e-mail...

"Glad to see another place to register bad things about versed.

I also want to express my total agreement about the trust thing with health care workers. Too many of them are, in my mind, at about the same level as sleazy sales people that lie to get you to buy something that isn't what you wanted...and keep insisting it is what you want. Why is this supposed to help people trust them? Talk about crazy making....
But I digress. That little update on the clinical pathway for a supposedly comfortable transition to death in the UK: totally thrilled it is getting some attention. I read about this awful process a few months back, and it made me want to puke. Had I not known what midazolam did to me, I probably would have just figured it was another tranquilizer being used to calm agitated patients and been discouraged but not appalled. I have never like the idea of a "clinical pathway" being used as a cookie cutter guideline in end of life care. It is like saying there is a recipe for your death: here ya go, shoot these up, let set and you are done in a few hours. This is the stuff of nightmares. (OMG).

Remember, I've worked in health care for more than twenty years. Recipe medicine (aka: clinical pathways) comes off like a game being played to cover up incompetence. Evidence driven best practice. My a**.

Drugging patients to ensure compliance? WTF??? In what dimension would this be remotely ethical? How can anyone participate in care decisions under the influence of a hypnotic drug that induces amnesia? Does anyone track the adverse events, like respiratory arrest from versed? Probably not: the people that love this drug would blame something other than their precious elixir for free will suppression in the drugged patient. And it isn't like midazolam helps control physical pain in any way. And yet there is that constant refrain from the versed devotees about this drug being for the patient's benefit. What a complete lie,

I am there with you: I don't trust any of the charlatans. It gives me no pleasure to be reminded of the reasons why health care is seen as a pox on humanity. Stories like this make me feel we've made no progress since the days of pest houses where people were randomly abused just because they were in the wrong place and vulnerable."

Trust

I have been taken to task on-line at Dr. Kevin's blog. The reason? I don't trust anybody in health care any more. The good Dr. feels that he can't treat people who don't "trust" him.

Trust is EARNED in my opinion! Why on earth would I trust a complete stranger, who is too rushed to care, with my life? Why would I trust that "they know what's best for me" when they have no clue who I am OR what's best for me as an individual? I refer back to my Versed debacle. I did trust them. They didn't listen to me or care. They didn't care what *I* wanted done with *my* body and mind. They didn't care about my prior experiences with anesthesia and sedation drugs. (paradoxical reactions) They didn't care about the expense. "Who cares? Tra la tra la!" All they cared about is what THEY wanted to do to make THEIR life easier. How do you regain trust in people who treat patients like that?

How do you trust people in the medical field when they made things much much worse for me? The surgery itself, despite being done EXACTLY as they wanted, complete with Versed and g/a, caused nerve damage, loss of grip and necessitated yet more surgery? How careless were they with me? Do you really expect me to trust people who are so dismissive of me and my health, future earnings, mental capacity etc. that they would so sloppily do my surgery?

How do I trust people who give me a hospital acquired infection that is so easily preventable? This cost me yet more money and it cost me some kidney function. How long before something WORSE happens because of that? These people could have KILLED me over a broken arm! Would you trust them again?

My medical team had zero respect or care for me as a person, yet they still wanted to be paid top dollar for this kind of sub standard and downright cruel treatment! They almost bankrupt me for a simple surgery that took 70 minutes. They all knew that my boss didn't supply health care! At $1200 a month for a policy, I would have had to live under a bridge in order to pay that. Did they help me by keeping the cost down? NO they did NOT, in fact, I truly believe that they surmised that they COULD charge the absolute MOST money from me and that I would have to pay it. (or lose everything) After all I had no insurance lawyers to back me up. Tell me I'm wrong! If you do research about this, you CAN find where hospitals knowingly charge the self payers MORE MONEY than they do the insurance companies. Patients have no recourse against this predatory pricing scheme. None. You can't pry any pricing out of them prior to the work being done and then it's to late. You want me to trust the hospital ever again?

Did you know that the president of the hospital I went to told me that he has NO FIDUCIARY DUTY TO THE PATIENTS? What that means is that the staff in the hospital is made up of "independent contractors." These "independent contractors" work within the walls of the hospital but have no oversight. They can do whatever they want without fear of reprisal or getting fired. The hospital ALLOWS these people to be there and do things to patients, but doesn't give a damn whether they break the law, abuse patients and misbehave in any way! No wonder my team felt that they could get away with treating me without my consent! Is this conducive to trust? The minions at the hospital were absolutely UNTRUSTWORTHY! How would I have known this ahead of time? I couldn't. I will never trust anybody in the health care field to have *MY* best interests at heart, ever again.

So now a doctor tells me that he wouldn't treat me because his profession has taught me mistrust! How special! You know what? I don't trust and wouldn't use a doctor who is so arrogant as to demand trust. "Trust me" is the worst phrase to use on people like myself. It INSTANTLY alarms me! No more blind trust. Healthy suspicion has replaced that. It's every (wo)man for themselves in today's medical arena!

From My Inbox

My friend Tim from www.versedbusters.blogspot.com and I have recently been discussing unnecessary tests, especially those which create opportunities for the medical profession to do yet more intrusive "procedures" which (big coincidence right?) can be looked upon as job security for medical people. We have discussed how the tests themselves could be dangerous. He being a man and I being a woman, we have different "tests" which are pushed. Colonoscopy is the one most widely used which is pushed on all of us.

I have already gone into the colonoscopy risks, Versed being at the top of the list. Sedation is very risky! Then there are perforations, infection, false positives and false negatives. Tim sent me some of the articles I put up recently about the prostate tests. I got this one today about mammograms. Funny about this... The things I have been saying about the efficacy of random or routine screenings, the use of radiation on sensitive breast tissue, and the RISK of developing cancer as a result of irradiating breasts are borne out in this scientific study.

Even Computer Technology Can't Help Mammograms

I find it very odd that a layman such as myself can see the risk involved with "simple screening tests," when the medical community doesn't seem to notice! Is it because it's simply their job to demand these tests as a way of making sure that we remain in the system? Are medical people taught that they are Gods of the universe and that they MUST order these tests regardless, without reason and without thinking? Why don't THEY (medical community) think about risk v. benefit? Are they taught to ignore risk and focus only on the supposed benefits? Why is that? Are they taught that there ARE no risks? Are they told that the risks are subordinate to their desire to perform tests? Are they taught that the INDIVIDUAL risks are to be ignored in favor of GROUP risk? Who compiles the adverse events for these "tests?" The medical community, which has a vested interest in performing "tests" on everybody for anything, even without a medical reason for it? Does anybody care about the adverse events? Should we patients demand that courses on "unintended consequences" be taught to medical people?

Come on medical people THINK about what you are doing! Think about the possibility of harm when you order tests. False positives, radiation poisoning, unnecessary surgery, unnecessary strain on patients minds and pocket books, the POCD, PTSD and other problems associated with the sedation and g/a drugs... FOR WHAT? That isn't a rhetorical question. I want to know what percentage of people are actually helped or saved by these procedures. (real ones, not inflated or subjective or projected benefits.) Balance that percentage against the possible harm of the "tests" themselves! How many people develop problems FROM the tests? How many are subjected to additional procedures to find that it was all a false alarm? Isn't that part of a medical oath or something "First Do No Harm?"

Another Inane Comment

This comment, from yet another health care worker it appears, (crna) can also be viewed in situ on the article I wrote on how to avoid Versed. If this person had read further they would see that even THOSE instructions will not guarantee that the patient can avoid Versed. At least they didn't go on to defend Versed. Progress I guess. So let's see what this person wrote shall we?
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BKW has left a new comment on your post "Instructions for avoiding Versed/Midazolam":

"Is this a joke? you certainly have a lot of time on your hands sitting at home on the computer...alone. If you don't want versed, just tell them! Lol, they aren't evil people."

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Their first statement is a question... "Is this a joke?" Um, NO, it's not a joke. Why would you think it's a joke? Does it seem funny to you that we would have to go to such lengths to try and avoid being poisoned with Versed for the benefit of the staff?

Next sentence (capitalize the Y in you, beginning of sentence) "you (sic) certainly have a lot of time on your hands sitting at home on the computer...alone." This is another attempt to ridicule me right off the bat. This person is making some assumptions in this statement which are patently false.

Why would this genius assume that I 1) spend a lot of time 2) at home 3) on a computer and 4) alone? First of all what I do with MY free time is my business. If I choose to write a few things about Versed, or when I use an article written by others as the basis for my thoughts, this is MY prerogative! It doesn't take a whole lot of time. Mostly I think about things and when I sit down to write, the writing is mostly done already in my head. It doesn't take much time at all! Plus, I LIKE writing! It's therapeutic for me in this case! Lucky me. I'm sorry if the commenter finds this kind of thing difficult and time consuming...

I may or may not be at home. I could be on my laptop at a restaurant or a horse show. I am almost NEVER alone while I'm writing. My husband works nights, I work days and my kid is here when she isn't in school. (She's a 12 year old, straight A, prep school 9th grader! IQ is hereditary through the mother. She's also eligible for MENSA!) Is there a problem with writing when you are alone? Gee I didn't know that! LOL

I know what you are getting at honey. You are trying to say that I am a jobless, friendless, stupid kook that doesn't even have any family. That because I object to being treated like a sub human life form by the medical community and WRITE ABOUT IT, that I must really be that which I was treated like at the medical center, right? I'm must be just scum, correct?

I DID tell them I didn't want ANYTHING LIKE VERSED! How many times do I have to repeat the same refrain? I didn't want Versed, I didn't want any kind of sedation, I didn't want g/a, I said it over and over and over. It WASN'T NECESSARY for my simple surgery! My procedure has a better outcome if they DON'T use Versed and g/a. Do you understand me YET? So who else do I tell? My "team" couldn't understand the word NO! They thought they knew better than I what was best for me. They said so when I filed all the complaints. So tell me again smartaleck, to just say no and (extrapolating from your statement) I won't get Versed! So what do I do, make an appointment with risk management and tell THEM? Maybe I should have contacted the hospital president and told HIM not to give me Versed?

What do you mean by this statement? "If you don't want Versed, just tell them!" I noticed what you left out... That is, "just tell them" (and you won't get Versed). You very prettily SUGGEST that by telling the staff to omit the Versed that they won't in fact administer it, but you didn't come out and say it did you? I didn't want or need Versed and I told them so. My records reflect that I was a pleasant woman in no distress. I told them not to give me anything like this drug and they DID IT ANYWAY! That IS evil.

And this is a laughing matter to you. LOL Think about it sweet lips, IF the morons at the place where I went had simply done as I asked, which was perfectly reasonable and also required by law, I WOULDN'T EVEN BE HERE DOING THIS! Can you understand that? Evil, mentally compromised (can't grasp the meaning of the word NO? Or refuse to take NO for an answer, your choice!) medical workers deliberately and maliciously assaulted me with drugs and treatments against my wishes and in a manner which is against the law. For a non life threatening elective procedure. They are doing this all over this country. They are doing this knowing full well they are in violation of patient rights laws. FEDERAL LAWS prohibit shooting up unsuspecting patients with Versed without INFORMED consent, let alone when the patient objects to it. So when you violate federal law what does that make you?

What planet do YOU live on where patients wishes about Versed are followed? Is the sky blue where you are? Do they have "informed consent" laws where you are? Are they followed? What does the word NO mean to you? None of the patients *I* speak to have been informed about the true nature of this (cough) wonder drug. Not one. Nobody that *I* know has been able to refuse Versed, even when following my instructions...

BTW thanks for not going on about how wonderful Versed is! This is a bad drug, which appears to cause brain damage in the form of POCD, PTSD, premature Alzheimer's like symptoms, anxiety disorders etc. Nobody should allow the use of Versed. The exception to the rule being those condemned people facing euthanasia for their crimes. Who cares if their brain is destroyed, they are going to be executed anyway. Have a nice day BKW. Say hey to all your crna friends.

Another OMG What Are They THINKING?

Well, it's finally out. Medical workers are putting senior citizens on Versed/Midazolam to "help" them die. Isn't that great? To be cognizant, aware and unable to do anything about the nurses who are killing you. The amnesia only works backwards, if it works at all. Patients can't remember the past, (most of them anyway) but they can surely see what is happening to them in real time! This is cruelty like nothing we have seen so far with this drug. Here is the article;

Death row drug fed to dying Scottish pensioners - The Daily Record

Versed/Midazolam CAUSES a lot of the problems in the first place. Things like dementia and cognitive dysfunction. Then medical workers apparently use the excuse that their brain is already destroyed, so let's just keep going with the brain poison drugs. (read the article where an old man "recovered" after leaving his Versed and the hospital behind.) The old folks can't scream or object if we give them enough Versed. What a deal. To the family it looks like the grandy has lost their mind, talks gibberish and has lost touch with reality. They may look peaceful and may not recognise family members. This would lead the family to think that something OTHER THAN poison is at work. If the family knew that their precious mother, father etc was being deliberately given a drug which caused all this they would be furious wouldn't they? I know I would.

Versed needs to be banned. I don't really care that they give this drug to condemned prisoners because they probably murdered somebody in a particularly heinous way to get where they are, but I do care that Versed is being used as a date rape drug, a patient annihilation drug, in order to get compliance and to mask abuse, and now it is used to "help" the dying process, destroying the last time that the patient has on earth by using this brain disabling drug... Sickening! Thanks Gin for sending me this.

More Homework; Dr. Bremner

I was listening to a tv program about a man who took that drug Accutane for 2 days. He had minor acne, but this drug seems to have destroyed his brain function enough in those 2 days that he became a homicidal maniac and murdered the dermatologist who innocently prescribed it. 5 YEARS LATER! I have already written about Accutane on my blog, and if you read that, you know that the very same foreign outfit that developed Accutane also developed Versed. The company is Roche and in both cases they IGNORED THE FACT that their drugs were having a detrimental effect on people's mental health. They manufactured or otherwise tainted their trials with both these drugs. They ignored all of the adverse reactions that their drugs caused. They were SUED over Accutane... a skin blemish drug. Let's see, would I rather have mild acne or even disfiguring acne or become depressed and unable to function, maybe kill myself and/or others? I'd rather NOT have the drug. Same with Versed. I'd rather NOT be relaxed like with Versed. I am relaxed WITHOUT sedation, obsequious obedience, and amnesia thank you very much! I also could have lived without the Versed induced PTSD and all the rest of the mental aberrations brought on by Versed injections.

In the course of my research I cam upon a DOCTOR who has published a book entitled "Before You Take That Pill" I bought the book over on Amazon! I will give my synopsis when I get it and finish reading it. The author, Dr. Bremner, is the one who apparently brought the Accutane problem to the forefront. I also purchased Dr. Bremner's book about Accutane, entitled "The Goose That Laid The Golden Egg; Accutane..."

Here is Dr. Bremner's health blog. Before You Take That Pill » Book Review of Your Body's Red Light Warning Signs

More on DEMENTIA and SEDATION!!!!!

I have a couple of posts on this blog SOMEWHERE about this issue. Too many patients are ending up with dementia from hospital visits. I have an opinion on what is causing this "dementia" in the hospital. I know that you are totally taken aback that a lowly truck driver such as myself would form an opinion, based on the facts as I know them. It's called extrapolation or critical thinking. This is a brain function which even patients who are truck drivers can possess. Here is an article from my inbox.

Treating Drug-Induced Diseases... Welcome to the Alliance for Natural Health - USA

Imagine my surprise when this article CORRECTLY IDENTIFIES THE CULPRIT IN THE HOSPITAL ACQUIRED MENTAL DISORDER KNOWN AS DEMENTIA! You will love this excerpt from the piece linked above...
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Treating Drug-Induced Diseases…

October 11, 2011

Print This Post

…With more—and worse—drugs?

Mainstream medicine too frequently relies on pharmaceuticals to solve problems that FDA-approved medicines caused in the first place. Take, for example, delirium—a kind of mental confusion that’s a common complication of hospital admission, especially among people over 65. It is one of the biggest drains on the healthcare system, costing between $38 and $152 billion per year in the US alone. Patients who become delirious are more likely to die while hospitalized and in the months after leaving, and many suffer permanent loss of their mental faculties.

Worst of all, say researchers from Vanderbilt University, in many hospitals three-quarters of delirium cases go undiagnosed because patients are often quiet and withdrawn rather than agitated and hallucinating. As you will see, the undiagnosed patients may actually be better off.

Next month, Vanderbilt researchers will begin a study to see if giving antipsychotic drugs in an intensive care unit (ICU) can reduce delirium and subsequent cognitive decline.

Shockingly, the truth is that delirium is often triggered by medication given in hospital. Drugs that boost activity of the neurotransmitter dopamine, or block the effects of acetylcholine, increase the risk of delirium. Sedatives that are widely prescribed in an ICU and to patients undergoing surgery seem to be particularly risky in this respect. (emphasis in red is mine)

Think about this: Even though one of the triggers of delirium is hospital-prescribed drugs (sedatives), the solution they’re considering is to prescribe even more dangerous and potentially damaging drugs (antipsychotics).

Side effects of the antipsychotic drugs which researchers hope will help with delirium include weight gain, type II diabetes, hyperlipidemia, inflammation of the heart muscle (myocarditis), sexual side effects, cataracts, and even more severe mental problems.

Why would trained researchers want to give delirium patients anti-psychotic medication? Are they delirious themselves? (I have wondered this same thing, are medical workers delirious?) Or is this just more crony capitalism involving the corrupting effect of drug company money? It certainly won’t be hard to find drug company funding for this trial.

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Did you get that? SEDATIVES ARE TRIGGERING DELIRIUM! Wow, who would have thought that? Fascinating... Their solution is to add yet more dangerous drugs to the patients body instead of NOT USING VERSED! This is insane.

PROOF! AT LAST!

On my blog, several times, I have expounded on my theory that a lot or most (almost said ALL, but I'm sure that would not be true) of the positive reviews of Versed that we see all over the web are written by medical workers. We all know how hot they are to use this drug on ALL of us for ANY specious reason. They vigorously defend this drug and cannot and WILL not allow anything negative to be said about it without throwing a hissy fit. At LAST I have proof of my hypothesis!

I got the following statement from a medical worker who purports to be a nurse practitioner from an pediatric ICU. I have done research and I believe I know who this person is and that he is really what he states he is... Several times I have stated that I won't post any more of his tripe, but jeez, I just can't resist it! 'M I bad? Good job (name removed)! You have me printing your inane statements again. At least this one!

Here it is folks, the proof positive that medical workers are running around (metaphorically) trying desperately to prevent the spread of information about just how bad their drug of choice is. Just like any addict, they claim that Versed is perfect, never has side effects, and anybody who objects is an uneducated crazy person. They ARE addicted to injecting Versed, and to this extent! Gotta love it!

"BTW, I counter posted! HAHAHAHAHAHA!" Insane Nurse, author
The above is Insane Nurse's entire response to a DNP's statement that Versed should be avoided at all costs. So Nursey Poo goes right over there and posts a counter to it! ROFL! Also note the juvenile HAHAHA stuff! LOL Thank you very much sweety, you just proved me RIGHT AGAIN! These allegedly educated and divine medical peons are indeed posting to counter our claims that Versed is bad. In light of Insane Nurse's actions, I hope that my readers will be relieved to see that all (did it again! "MOST" not all) those glowing reviews about how wonderful Versed is are coming from the drug pushers themselves. Insane man, can you EVER open your mouth (type a comment) without inserting your foot in it?

Sadly this IS what medical care has come to. This is the thought process of (some of, many of?) the personnel that populate treatment centers... Kinda makes you a little insecure about trusting them doesn't it? This is a grown man acting like this... For more just take a trip over to http://www.nurse-anesthesia.org/ sometime and see how childish they are as a GROUP! Even the student anesthesia nurses act like this. We need more grownups in medical care. I'm pretty much done with medical workers who act like over aged juvenile delinquents. That's right John, I consider what you did as an act of vandalism, graffiti if you will. Giggle!

Anesthesia and Learning Disabilities

Medical News: Repeat Anesthesia for Tots May Lead to Learning Disabilities - in Anesthesiology, Anesthesiology from MedPage Today



Yet another scientific study about the effects of anesthetic agents on the developing brain. This study specifically mentions Propofol as causing brain degeneration. I would like to see somebody look at the "other" drug that these medical workers are so hot to give to everybody and that is Versed. Along with the g/a aren't they all invariably given Versed? One crazy person who comes to my blog brags about the Versed "drips" that he sets up for his little charges.


What parent would allow a "study" to see how much BRAIN DAMAGE particular drugs cause? There is no way in Hell that I would allow this... So are they dispensing with "informed consent" so that they can evaluate the ruined brain of a child?


If you read my recent post about "Doing More Homework" you will see where the scientists state that the deeper areas of the brain are not really mappable and their activity doesn't show up on an EEG. So really, even scientists don't know very much about the brain at all do they? So why is it that the medical minions are so gung ho to alter that which they know NOTHING about? These medical people will catagorically state that THEIR favorite drug to inject YOU with can't possibly be harmful. How do they know this? Correct answer; They DON'T! They don't know JACK about any of it, but they still go right on the attack if you criticize Versed in ANY way.

Mid-Level Wages For Medical Personnel

You want to see what PA's, CRNA'S, and NP's etc. are crying about? My heart bleeds for them, it truly does. (sounds of violins playing a plaintive melody) Oh the pain of it all! They go to college for a few years and LOOK AT WHAT THE PAYOFF IS!!! I don't think there is another industry that pays out like a slot machine... My advice to anybody is to use this time to become a medical worker, especially if your own employment sector is going down in flames. Then you too can become a whiny crybaby at the same time as having a secure job that pays these outlandish salaries. None of us can afford to go to the doctor/hospital any more, but that's not stopping health care workers from acting like jerks and raking in the dough.

Here is a chart for the MEDIAN INCOME that these little starlets make. (The entire study and charting can be found here; AMGA Mid-Level Compensation Figures)

Cert. Reg. Nurse Anes..........$157,724
Dentistry................................$167,389 (This one gets me too, it doesn't take long to be a dentist.)
Midwife (Nurse)................$94,181 (You'd think that this would be a high risk job, why so cheap?)
Nurse Practitioner................$86,841
Occupational Therapist........$64,784
Optometrist...........................$124,067 (This looks like a good job too!)
Physical Therapist................$69,397
Physician Asst. (Med.).........$90,151 (for 2 years of study?!)
Physician Asst. (Surg.).........$99,475 (for 2 years of study?!)
Podiatrist (Med.)...................$190,596
Podiatrist (Surg.)..................$232,121
Psychology (Ph.D only).........$102,904

Obama's Fiery Rhetoric Reinvented

President Obama gave a speech to the members of the black caucus. I think I'd like it if Obama redirected his speech to all of the "mid-level" health care workers. You know, all of the advanced practice nurses who feel that they are on par with doctors. The ones who constantly whine about getting respect when they give none, that complain that 6 figures isn't enough money for people of their exalted status as advanced practice nurses. The ones who want to be called something other than what they are, like the physicians ASSISTANTS who want to be called ASSOCIATES! This speech is for YOU! (delivered in the strong reverberating tones of a TV evangelist!)

"Take off your bedroom slippers! Put on your marchin' shoes! Shake it off! Stop complainin'. Stop grumblin'! Stop cryin'! We are going to press on! We have work to do!"

That's right, shut the Hell up! Stop your incessant "complainin'" about all the real or imagined "slights" that your profession gets. "Stop cryin'" that you don't get any respect! You aren't acting respectable, you are acting like spoiled children! "Shake it off!" While you are at home in your bedroom slippers the rest of us are hard at work trying to afford your services! "Stop grumblin'" that you don't make as much as doctors! YOU AREN'T A DOCTOR! If you want to be a doctor then 'PRESS ON!" You "have work to do" if you want that prestige! "Put on your marching shoes" and march right over to the admissions office at a medical college!

God, I'm so sick of all the preening, posturing, whining, complaining and the arrogant, narcissistic attitude that goes along with "mid-level" health care people wanting to be accorded the same respect, money and prestige as a doctor. Now they want name changes and such to further their pretense. This is, well, PRETENTIOUS! "Shake it off!"

The EBP Process

Tim from www.versedbusters.blogspot.com sent me this link today.

Introduction to Evidence-Based Practice

If you click on the link you will see some boxes. On the right is a RED box. I laughed an ironic laugh when I read what is in the RED box. The RED box is the most important part of health care and the Evidence Based Practice or EBP. Without us there is no medical "practice."

What I like best about this tutorial is that the PATIENT is the focal point, not what the health care workers want. Maybe if this was taught in our medical schools and drummed into the heads of the arrogant snobs who populate this area of expertise, we would get better treatment from our medical teams.

Both parts of my recent ill advised foray into the medical world were wrong. My team forgot the RED box part of my treatment. In their little minds the whole adventure was an unqualified success. The crna got to sedate me and knock me out against my will. I did wake up. So he feels that his services were a success story. The surgeon or janitor, RN, Pa, device rep or whoever got to do my surgery got to do it. My arm was marginally straighter. Success! The nursing students and probably a couple of Gyn students got to play with my crotch! I helped train them against my will, but they got their training! Success!

From MY point of view the operation was a disaster. I still haven't returned to normal brain function and I am still experiencing panic attacks and anxiety over my treatment from the crna, along with pain from his tourniquet. I have major problems with the site of the surgery, numbness, loss of grip etc. As far as I'm concerned the surgery was an unqualified disaster, necessitating YET MORE SURGERY or right now I would not have any function left in my hand. I got an infection from all those people who were sticking their dirty fingers into my vagina and threading contaminated catheters into my urethra. My kidney function has been compromised because of it. I don't consider that a success. The humiliation of being treated like a lab rat of no value will stay with me until I die. This is why my surgery is NOT a success story, regardless of what medical people think! That's why the RED box in the above linked article is so important.

Unnecessary Tests

Recently I've written about the prevalence of unnecessary testing of patients, mainly for the monetary gain of medical workers. Here's an article from a friend of mine stating the same thing about THIS particular test.

Healthy men don’t need PSA testing for prostate cancer, panel says - The Washington Post

Whenever I hear about these "tests" I think about the childhood jingle featuring an old lady who swallowed a fly! Remember that? "I don't know why she swallowed the fly, perhaps she'll die." Then she had to swallow a spider to eat the fly and then a bird to eat the spider, and on and on like that. JUST LIKE MEDICAL CARE! How much does health care expect us to swallow?
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If you want an article by another news source on this subject, here it is...

U.S. Panel Advises Against Routine Prostate Test - NYTimes.com

While I'm on The Subject of Torture

Here's a web site that I think you should all read... Is Torture Ever Justified? - Science Forums

On the second page you will find this little jewel. Thanks Marat! I have put my thought in blue and parenthesis;

"I strongly suspect that torture is still commonly used today even though it is known not to be very effective at producing reliable information, and it is also well-established that other, more humane methods such as drugs and keeping people awake for long periods are more effective. The reason for continuing to use torture is pure sadism, both on the part of the governments using it and the people performing the torture, lighly covered by the cloak of its supposedly being necessary.

Since the Nazis preferred to use scopolamine over torture, and they were hardly true gentlemen in their methods, I think it must be clear by now that scopolamine is a superior device to making people talk. I have had extensive experience with versed, which usually causes patients to babble so incessantly about everything that comes to mind that it is impossible for physicians to concentrate on even the most simple surgeries. (So why use it? We have been told that sedation is necessary for the doctors convenience, now it seems that this has been yet another lie!) They also tell the most interestingly embarrassing things about themselves, their lives, their perceptions, and their desires, (OMG!) that it is difficult to look them straight in the face afterwards, (how HUMILIATING!) especially if their 'official' persona is that of a prude. So why wouldn't a harmless (harmless?) drug like versed, which leaves patients sufficiently conscious that they can respond to questions, be suitable for extracting information? It even seems better than torture since it causes patients to forget everything that has occurred while they were under its influence, so they would not know what they revealed or what their questioners knew." (Exactly what I have been saying for a long time.)

Here's another quote from the torture site. This will curl your hair. How DARE THEY do this to us?

"One of the things done in my place of work is that central line catheters are inserted into the sometimes complex vasculature of the patient. It is often necessary to obtain feedback from the patient while these catheters are being threaded in, but the procedure can be so disturbing to the patient that the patient must also be sedated. So the problem arises, how do you get reliable feedback from the patient while still sedating him?

The answer is Versed. This drug allows the patient to space out so that he isn't bothered by anything that is happening and he wakes up without remembering anything that happened. This drug often causes patients to babble away while the catheter is being inserted, since these people naturally become quite voluble. You can easily direct them to talk about one thing or the other, so you can get them to shift the topic of conversation from their first wife's bad breath to their sensation of the catheter just by asking, and they put up no resistance.

So from this, it seems that Versed is a perfect substitute for torture, though I am not aware that it has ever been tested or used for this purpose."

IF you value the privacy of your mind and thoughts and IF you feel that torture is never justified, especially the torture of an innocent patient, then you will decline the Versed. This is so horrifying I can hardly stand it. This is bad, Bad, BAD! You medical people have NO RIGHT to do this to us! Do you tell your patients ANYTHING LIKE what Marat is writing about in the informed consent portion of your job? Do you? Of course not because you LIKE it. This is sickening. This IS terrorism! All masked in a make nice package wrongly called "sedation." Shocking is too banal a word to use for this kind of behavior from our saintly medical providers! Medical personnel are terrorists, sadists and vicious interrogators. This drug Versed needs to be banned. "Versed is the perfect substitute for torture!" Except that the helpless, hapless patient is tortured as well as revealing their humiliating secrets for the entertainment of staff. All nice and legal and practiced by people who are supposed to be helping and who should know better. This is NOT acceptable at Gitmo OR in our medical centers.

Letter From Reader

Jackie: thanks for finding that Frida the blogger is okay! I have a strong affinity for the physically challenged and enjoyed her postings after your link. Her stuff was informative and insightful. (my favorite kind of blog)

Also, noticed you found the amygdala and hippocampus stuff and obviously are reading some of the same scary stuff I've run into with memory and emotions running amok because of "interference" and it isn't always PTSD. As with most versed damaged minds, it is chemical interference that my old therapist friend agrees is probably permanent but definitely can be improved somewhat. She had that bad go round herself as I had told you. But retraining the brain and attaching new ideas to a bad experience seems to help folks feel a little more in control of themselves. I am all for that after a week of nightmares and sweaty palms. The anniversary date of my diagnosis is approaching, so the memories of my damaging experience are getting more intense again. This happened in July when I went to the doctor's office for a follow up. Going there was only a problem when I thought about why and couldn't escape the flashbacks for awhile. Hell again, as you know.

She loves this emotional brain training stuff. Thinks the amygdala connection has been overlooked and basically neglected in brain physiology writings because it is so hard to map. I agree since I know my emotions are intact (painful, but intact) and my sequential memory isn't. This week on MedPage they have a good article on traumatic "events" and cognitive therapy. I did laugh when I read that just drugs, as in TRANQUILIZERS, don't help with stopping the development of PTSD. Regardless of that crap the medical community with the support of the army medics tried to put out that drug induced amnesia was supposed to be a help to combat veterans at risk for PTSD, it looks like that may have been a band aid on the festering aneurysm of anxiety overload if this newer study is correct. They haven't been pushing this much the last few years in the research at NIMH.

I have always known benzos are just bad for some brains, no way around it. There was never a question that amnesia is no friend to good mental health. Who do they think they are, these spin doctors on big pharma payrolls?

It just made no sense that every other therapy for trauma involved remembering the event and confronting the feelings to get them under control and reduce anxiety. But ^o^, the crna's and anesthesiologists think it is just fine to step out of their discipline and tell us what is good for us because they want to censor our memories. In fact, this concept of chemically censoring our brain function demonstrates the basic insult and fuels my continuing disdain and distrust for the numb-noggin jerks I encountered.

I just can't even think about them without becoming furious.

My yoga instructor tells me that focus and deep breathing are big helps for people after a brain injury, more and more research showing it in Europe. I think that chemically frying our brains could arguably be classified as an injury. It sure feels that way to me.

Here is hoping brain training (self brain washing is one sense) will improve my attitude. Chocolate does help sometimes. I admit. But it doesn't last anywhere but on my butt. So much for permanent improvement to date.

We Think You Are LIARS! (Today's rant)

It used to be the medical practitioners were held in the highest esteem. As an older person I grew up idolizing Marcus Welby. Not to mention that hunk James Brolin! My own stepfather who is a Dr. solidified this perception of a doctor, with a wonderful support staff of caring nurses and office personnel. When my femur was kicked in two by a horse, the surgeon I went to wasn't perfect (I had 3 surgeries to deal with rotational instability) but he was caring and concerned as was everybody at his office. Ditto the staff at Dominican hospital. So what happened?

It isn't just the wholesale assault on our brains with Versed is it? Nope, it's the ATTITUDE of health care now. Seems to me that the whole damn thing (health care) has become an "every man for himself" free for all! We patients are lied to daily, are coaxed, coerced or otherwise harassed into having dubious "treatments," "screenings" or dangerous drugs at every turn. Nobody gives a damn about the patient do they?

Medical people routinely dismiss patient rights LAW, feeling that they are superior all-knowing Gods who can't be bothered with pedestrian things like the LAW! We have all kinds of rights, like the right to know the RISKS, BENEFITS, AND ALTERNATIVES to any kind of intervention and the RIGHT TO SAY NO to any part or all of it. How is it that we are never told of things like VERSED/MIDAZOLAM and its long term effects on memory and emotional stability? The most common procedure for getting Versed seems to be colonoscopies. Do we even really need a colonoscopy as a screening tool? For a normal asymptomatic person, the RISKS of the procedure far outweigh the benefits! In my opinion. Just read up on it yourself. We are being lied to by the medical community, using scare tactics to gain compliance.

Why can't we decline Versed without starting world war 3? Anybody who has followed this blog KNOWS how nasty medical workers can be. The juvenile name calling and filthy language. The sneering, jeering gang of bullying medical workers can make your life miserable, while claiming the moral high ground. What a laugh! Why would anybody trust gangsters like these people? They use a drug instead of a gun to rob us blind, but the end result can be the same. PTSD and an empty wallet.

There is nothing you can do because contrary to the LIE about malpractice hurting the medical community, malpractice awards are almost nonexistent in this country. Ask anybody you know if they personally know of one single person who has been killed or harmed BY MEDICINE that had a SUCCESSFUL malpractice suit prosecuted against the offender. Newspaper articles don't count. It's all just another scam dreamed up by medical people who wish to have ZERO ACCOUNTABILITY for their sometimes sub standard and sometimes UNLAWFUL care.

What about the ubiquitous flu vaccine? Every year we are treated to fear mongering about the new flavor of the month flu virus. THIS TIME it's the killer flu and we will all die, unless we subject ourselves to the RISK of yet another flu vaccine. It's costly and unnecessary as far as I can tell. People die all the time from stuff. If people die without having the flu vaccine those deaths are put into the "flu" column in order to skew the numbers and insure a steady flow of money into Merck or whatever pharmaceutical markets the drug. Prove me wrong! Look at the stats on all these "flu deaths" and you will see that they almost invariably had stage 4 cancer or some OTHER life threatening health problem as well! Most of them WEREN'T EVEN TESTED FOR THE FLU and yet their death was attributed to the killer flu. Flu shots are made in China no doubt, so who knows what's in them? Tainted drugs are in the news a lot these days.

What about the Thimerasol preservative in vaccines? I knew Thimerasol was bad news 35 years ago when I had a reaction to contact lens solution that contained Thimerasol! My optometrist knew exactly what the problem was all those decades ago! It's a huge shock to the medical community in the 21st century to find that Thimerasol is in the vaccines and could be causing reactions in people?????? Give me a break! This is either a big fat lie, OR it's a matter of supreme indifference, take your pick.

The HPV vaccine that a Republican governor/presidential candidate mandated has caused all kinds of misery. Not only are the potential reactions severe, the vaccine itself doesn't protect against all strains of the virus and is UNPROVEN to stop one single case of cancer. Not one. Read the studies and articles about this debacle! So they lied to us again. They said it was safe and effective. Neither claim is true as far as I can see.

One minute an egg will kill you and the next it's beneficial. Regular blood pressure is now HIGH blood pressure that must be medicated. Otherwise you will die of heart failure, kidney failure and all the rest. Fat is bad, some fat is good. Cholesterol will kill you or you need it for your body to function. You must irradiate your breasts every year or you are at risk of not finding breast cancer. Never mind that all that radiation could cause breast cancer itself. There is no end to the intrusive and dangerous "screenings" that medical people would like to subject you to. No end to the dangerous medications to which you will be subjected! "What side effects? We don't know about no side effects" the medical community shrilled. They lie.

All the while these people define their jobs in a narrower and narrower manner. My ORTHOPEDIC SURGEON is incapable of reading an x-ray! That must be done by a separate person in the hospital. The nurses job is to stare at you and laugh at you. The crna's job is to drug you and laugh about you. There is a scrub nurse, a roving (circulating) nurse, another o.r. nurse, a person whose job it is to put a cast on, a person to type things into a computer, which may or may not be true. There's a charge nurse, head nurse, a person whose job it is to weigh you, several people to interview you, an insurance person, a medical transcriptionist, a person to take your blood pressure, an np, and a lot of other people. You can include a drug company rep and a medical device rep in there as well. Why are they there? You are kidding yourself if you think you need all these extraneous people! It's all part of the plan to make sure that the patient's money is extracted, ALL of it. I think its also a plan for "plausible deniability."

We've all heard how these medical teams insure that the patient is never abused. People that's the OPPOSITE of what really happens when there are untold numbers of people, all involved in one single person's care! What seems to happen is that when things go south, the can all blame each other and claim it wasn't their job! For instance; You tell these people that Versed is not acceptable, and that it is NOT to be used. You write it on your paperwork, which usually doesn't contain any reference to Versed or amnesia. You tell that to your nurse, usually just before she/he injects you with it anyway. Whose job is it to describe the effects of Versed? It's the LAW that the patient is informed as to the risks, benefits and side effects of Versed, but WHOSE JOB IS IT TO INFORM US? To whom do we say "DON'T GIVE ME VERSED UNDER ANY CIRCUMSTANCES OR FOR ANY REASON? Which one of all these people? How do we know WHICH people? Or will they all ignore us? They don't read charts and they can't see a medic alert piece of jewelry! They can't hear us speak. Any of them. Then they have numerous people to back up their lies.

Whose job is it to explain in detail and get consent for surgical procedures? The surgeon? His/her physicians assistant? Is it the job of the nurse to get you to sign your life away, knowing full well that you are NOT informed? Is it the crna's job to decide unilaterally what the procedure will be? Does he/she have to tell you the truth about their plan or do they get to lie?Or is the real MDA's job as supervisor? When do these people see you and when do they decide what they are going to do to you? When and to whom does the patient get to say NO? As you can see, this is deliberate confusion. They can ALL say that it wasn't them, it was the other person's job to do whatever.

Whatever the patient said or didn't say is lost in the mix because it was NOBODIES job to take note of the patient! Now they can all lie and say they never spoke to you, they didn't understand what you said, you said it to the wrong person, or the very worst thing they can say; "It never happened." THIS LIE is easily backed up by nearly one hundred people that have surrounded the patient since the inception. This last is a direct result of working around too many people who have been treated to a preview of their life when they get early onset Alzheimer's as a result of all the Versed that has been pumped into them by lying medical people!

All of this is extra bad because medical people are put on a pedestal. None of us would ever have believed that these esteemed people would treat us like dirt. It's not like we can avoid medical care either! At some point we will have a heart attack, be in a bad car wreck, get a bad disease or something where there is no choice but to go to a medical person. How bad is it when we know that medicine is for medical people, not patients. Patients are merely an obnoxious vehicle to obtain a paycheck. They HAVE to deal with all of us in the "great unwashed" (non medical people) category so that they can live in the lap of luxury, where their only concern is that somebody else is making more money for doing less. Read all about it. PA's want to be associates without the associated education. Np's want to be considered on par with doctors as well. Crna's, my personal favorites, are ALWAYS crying about their perceived lack of income. How much do you want us patients to pay for you lying self centered snakes? And it's UNAVOIDABLE!

I honestly feel sorry for all the good guys out there in the medical field. Ever heard the saying "One bad apple spoils the whole bushel?" These "bad apples" in medical care are ruining the special relationship between medical personnel and the patient. We are being put into an adversarial position with our own caregivers. We patients have to research, second guess, and otherwise treat the people that we should be able to trust with our lives as con men/women. This is so unutterably sad... The trust is gone in the place where most of us can least afford it, medical care. Replaced with fear, loathing and suspicion.

SCREAMING!

On www.askapatient.com there are 2 newer posts that reference SCREAMING! In both cases there are excuses as to why doctors et al are doing this to their patients. I contend that this is legalized TORTURE! If you don't want your helpless body tortured, I suggest you decline the amnesia drug Versed.

From a post on 9/29/11 is this statement; "Horrible experience that I didn't expect. Never felt calm, woke up in severe pain during the procedure, but then remember nothing for 2 hours afterwards.(Like most others, I was never informed of the amnesia !) I feel tricked (since I was led to believe the procedure would be a "breeze") and am horrified to learn that many doctors ignore a patient's screams because they are relying on the amnesia & want to finish the procedure so they get paid. Is this what health care has come to ?"

Is this really how you want to be treated? This woman opines that she learned "that many doctors ignore a patients screams because they are relying on the amnesia & want to finish the procedure so they get paid." Are we supposed to respect that reasoning by medical practitioners? Their paycheck... Just asking.

From a post on 9/28/11; "...Doctors will frequently continue the procedure with the patient screaming because it's generally a short procedure and it's easier to get it done with than to pull the scope out and try again with some other drug combination some other time, when the patient might not actually remember the pain when the procedure is over. "

Here we have a poster saying that doctors "frequently" just keep right on going with the patient "screaming" because its "EASIER" for them to keep going than to interrupt their program. Their excuse is that pesky AMNESIA where "the patient might not actually remember the pain..." Is this how YOU want to be treated? You really want your doctor to FREQUENTLY continue torturing you in the face of your screams of pain? Do you want to risk that you are one of us that don't get amnesia? Since when does amnesia give the green light to torture?

Wow, I can sure see the government trying this excuse with the Gitmo prisoners can't you? The prisoners of war "...might not actually remember the pain." I'm just kidding, there is no way in HELL that the type of behavior described by the 2 posters above would be tolerated at Gitmo. Civilized societies don't torture their prisoners. They DO, however, torture innocent patients, now don't they?

The Prescott Daily Courier

Here's an article by Elizabeth Bewley;

THE GOOD PATIENT: Dealing with healthcare is scarier than being thrown by a wild horse - The Prescott Daily Courier - Prescott, Arizona

Reprinted here;

10/1/2011 9:56:00 PM THE GOOD PATIENT: Dealing with healthcare is scarier than being thrown by a wild horse

Elizabeth Bewley Courier Columnist Terry has been working construction and driving trucks for more than 30 years. She has also ridden rogue horses as far back as she can remember, and once broke a thigh bone in four places when she was thrown. When she broke her wrist one weekend five years ago in another horse-riding accident, she didn't want to waste money by going to the emergency room. She wrapped her wrist and waited until Monday to go see a doctor. He told her that she'd never work again - nor ride another wild horse - if he didn't operate on her wrist right away. Scared by this prospect, she agreed to the surgery, but explained that she had what is known as a "paradoxical reaction" to any drug that interfered with her mental state. She had been given anesthesia on two prior occasions. In both cases, when she started to come out of it, she woke up swinging and shouting, ripping out IV lines and throwing things. She was very emphatic: no anesthesia. No mood-altering drugs. She asked for a nerve block, injections into her arm to prevent pain signals from reaching her brain. She explained clearly that she wanted to remain conscious and alert during the procedure. The doctor stopped talking about anesthesia. Terry said, "I thought that was settled, but it turns out that I might as well have been talking to my bedroom wall." The day of the surgery, she repeated that she did not want any drugs that would alter her mental state. "The nurse anesthetist said, 'I think I know what's best for you; you're just a truck driver.'" Before she realized what was happening, Terry was knocked out with two different drugs. After the surgery, Terry recalled, "I woke up screaming and fighting in the recovery room. I was on my feet, in and out of consciousness, throwing things and hitting people. I just went berserk." Terry contrasts her calm state before surgery with her enraged state afterwards. Before the surgery, "It even said on my chart that I was a very pleasant woman in no distress." For many years after being given drugs, which she had insisted she could not have because of her known bad reaction to mind-altering drugs, Terry experienced uncontrollable rage and PTSD (post-traumatic stress disorder). "I was crazy, and I felt like I was crazy, and there was nothing I could do. It felt like somebody had short-circuited my head." She said sadly, "My daughter tells me that her mother left home that day and it took years for me to come back. My daughter was 7 years old." In classic "blame the victim" style, Terry was told that she was responsible for the bad experience she had with the drugs: the anesthesiologist said, "You must have been insane to start with." In addition to experiencing extreme emotional distress, Terry concluded that the operation itself was a disaster. Screws that the surgeon had put into her wrist hadn't been screwed in all the way, and were rubbing against tendons and nerves. Because of improper use of a tourniquet, her upper arm hurt so severely that she stayed in bed for nearly two weeks, felled by sudden slashing bursts of pain if she moved. Her whole hand became numb as a result of nerve damage. When she removed the bandage for the first time, she discovered that the incision cut clear through the tendons inside her wrist. Terry would never have agreed to the surgery if she had understood the risks and downsides. The surgeon claimed that the operation had gone "perfectly." Shortly after that, he fired Terry as a patient. Even though she was in severe pain from the protruding screws, Terry was too scared to go to another doctor for a year and a half. Then she found a doctor who agreed to take the screws out without giving her the drugs that had hijacked her mind. Five years after the original surgery, she has about 30 percent use of that arm. She notes, "I can work, but I can't climb ladders anymore. I can't hold wrenches. I've pretty much given up riding aggressive horses, because I just can't hold on." She reports, "PTSD is subsiding over time. I can sleep at night now. I still tend to be more irritable, quicker to anger. (But) it is getting better." The extreme emotional distress she has endured has altered forever how Terry thinks about healthcare. She will not have a mammogram, a PAP smear or a colonoscopy, out of fear that one of them will reveal a problem and she will be sent to the hospital. "I don't think I can survive. I totally lost my mind. I just can't face it." This experience has changed how she lives her life. "I used to love riding hunter/jumper horses. Not a chance now: I might injure myself and have to go to a doctor." Terry fervently recommends that people carefully read "every single line" on informed consent forms. She advises, "Cross out things. They could refuse to treat you. They said, 'We just won't treat you if you don't allow us to do everything we have written on this sheet.' But that's not the law. You don't have to allow them to do any of this. Read it carefully and don't let them rush you. If you have questions, talk to your surgeon." She concluded, "You need what they have to offer. But you have to figure out how to get what you want, as opposed to what they want to give you. It's your body." Elizabeth L. Bewley is president & CEO of Pario Health Institute and the author of "Killer Cure: Why Health Care Is the Second-Leading Cause of Death in America and How To Ensure That It's Not Yours." To tell Elizabeth your story or to ask a question, write to thegood patient@pariohealth.net.

Doing More Homework

I looked up "explosive irritability" as a symptom of Midazolam poisoning. Yikes! Here's what I found... This is the entire study; Comprehensive Neurobehavioral Systems (CNS): Newsletter

Here's a statement that I found really interesting... "Commonly, these rage behaviors are associated with temporal lobe disorders, because deep within the temporal lobe of the brain there are a group of structures (part of the limbic system) that are critical for emotional stability. This includes the amygdala (sometimes referred to as the rage center) and the hippocampus (which is also critical for memory). Unfortunately, these are deep structures and they do not show up on typical brain scans (e.g.; CT or MRI), nor do we see standard electrical disorders on the EEG."

Now what part of the brain is acted upon with Versed/Midazolam? Hmmm. Let's see. Why it's the temporal lobe, the amygdala etc.! So according to medical people, wrecking all of these areas with Versed couldn't possibly cause behavioral disorders linked to these same areas of the brain? Does this denial seem rational or reasonable to you?

Change Doctors?

Here is an excellent piece again from Dr. Kevins blog; 10 reasons why you need to change doctors I have taken the liberty of reproducing a couple of paragraphs from the above which apply on this blog.

"4. You are rarely being seen by the doctor but are almost constantly being seen by a physicians assistant or nurse. Not that there is anything wrong with physicians assistants or nurses because they do play a very important role in health care, but if you are seeking the care of a specific healthcare provider and are rarely ever getting to see that individual (and you are not getting the care you believe you need as a result) this is a good sign that it may be time to make a switch."

My previous post this morning goes into this issue. Even after my surgery I was only allowed to speak to Travis. I was confused as to why the surgeon was unavailable to speak to me and I was continuously shunted off to his "assistant." Could it be that the "assistant" was actually the real surgeon? So he was the one I needed to talk to about any complications? What a bait and switch operation! The surgeon himself sees me and cons me into having a horrible surgery which most definitely WASN'T in my best interests and then fobs me off on his little assistant! (unknown to me) This same assistant who referred to me as "it" when looking for me in preop! This is BS in its purest form!

"5. The provider becomes defensive and angry when asked polite but challenging questions. No health care provider is always correct with diagnostic decision making or managing treatment. Patients should feel like they can have an open and honest discussion with the provider which includes asking questions about possible alternative diagnoses, treatments, or inquiring about information gathered from popular news sources. Provided that the questions are asked politely and without the intention of being antagonistic, there is no need for the provider to become upset. There is no need for a patient to feel scared to ask questions of their physician, nurse, psychologist, etc."

I got fired for this. (I must admit that the surgeon fired me at the same time as I decided that he was insufficient to continue my care. He "fired" me by writing a letter to the np that originally sent me to him. The np wasn't even working at the clinic any more, so the firing was merely symbolic, but what a symbol of medical care it was!) I had many issues with my care which I expected the physician to address. Numbness, pain, loss of grip, screws sticking out into the soft tissue and sawing at my tendons. He was not only uninterested and dismissive but he also fired me so that I could work on the problems which he or his physicians ASSISTANT (not ASSOCIATE) caused with somebody else. This wouldn't be so bad, but once again I had to pay for an absolutely uncalled for "consultation" which is anything but! My new surgeon hadn't seen the inside of my arm and warned me that since he didn't know where the nerves ran in MY arm, that there was an increased risk of yet more nerve damage. So you see it's not just getting another surgeon that is involved.

"6. Feeling rushed. Healthcare is best when the provider is able to take the time to listen and understand the patient’s problems. When the provider gives off signals (e.g., frequently checking the clock or a watch, sighing when questions are asked, walking towards the door, cutting off questions) that he/she cannot spend much time with you, it may be time to consider seeking the care of someone who can."

I didn't feel rushed at all when I went in for my "consultation." My stepfather is a doctor and I am well aware of time restraints. However, it was obvious to me later that my surgeon hadn't listened to a single word I said. He was always "too busy" to come to the phone before the surgery. "Too busy" to see me in the hospital prior to or after my surgery, and possibly "too busy" to perform the surgery himself. Just "too busy" once he had convinced me through lies, omissions and plain old scare tactics to have the surgery.

"7. When the provider makes decisions that turn out to be harmful. An example of this would be going to a pediatrician for a child with respiratory problems and constantly being told it is probably due to allergies despite the fact that the child has no known allergies and has not improved with allergy medications or a nebulizer. Due to the delay in taking the parental report seriously that the problem is likely more than allergies, the child develops pneumonia and is hospitalized. Situations like these are reasons switch providers. While no health care provider is free from making mistakes, this does not mean you have to stay under that provider’s care."

I should never have had the surgery I was conned into having. It caused more damage than it alleviated. Please see the x rays in my 2009 posts.

"8. The provider has decided upon your course of care before evaluating you. This one sounds hard to believe but it happens sometimes. I had a situation once when I went to a doctor, he saw my chief complaint, and filled out two medical scripts before talking to me or evaluating me. Medication and other treatments should be based on a discussion with the patient and an evaluation."

My surgeon had decided upon a course of action by reviewing my x rays prior to ever seeing me. My x rays revealed a fracture that he wanted to operate on. What this meant to me was completely irrelevant to my surgeon. He also had decided that I would receive general anesthetic instead of the nerve block that I stated would be acceptable to me. There was no discussion about it. He never told me about the risks of SEVERE side effects. There was no revelation about general anesthetic being used against my will because my surgeon (as revealed afterwards) only works on unconscious patients. My break went from "no visible or palpable deformity" to "severe deformity" unless surgically remedied. (See the x rays and physician notes.) What my surgeon referred to as "vast improvement" was a minuscule adjustment, barely visible IN THE X RAYS, to the angle of my wrist. (completely invisible by just looking at my arm) For this minuscule adjustment to the bone angle, I got permanent loss of grip, numbness, tendon damage, am at risk for carpal tunnel syndrome and have PTSD and a medical phobia. Not to mention the almost 20,000 dollar bill for the first surgery and more thousands of dollars for additional doctor visits, additional surgery, treatment for the hospital acquired infection and counseling for PTSD. What a deal.

Physician Associate or Physician Assistant

I found this article on Dr. Kevin's blog; A physician assistant writes to the doctors of America

This is very typical of medical personnel these days. This physician assistant wants to be referred to as a physician associate. This term further muddies the water as far as just exactly who is treating the patient. I don't know about you, especially if you are in the health care world, but an ASSOCIATE is an MD who works with your doctor, as in a PEER. (Common usage of the term in my world.) An ASSISTANT is somebody who is capable of ASSISTING the doctor.

If you look at my patient charts you will see that the physician ASSISTANT has been upgraded to the position of my DOCTOR! I didn't know this person and I certainly didn't HIRE him to be my surgeon. Who authorizes this change? Certainly not ME and I'm the one paying the bill! I CONTRACTED with a real surgeon, whom I expected to have FULL medical training, spanning years and years, not an assistant whose training is only 2 years.

If you have read some of my statements regarding the quality of my surgery, I am more and more convinced that the surgeon I hired relegated his surgery to the PA. According to the article linked above, this is something that PA's feel that they should be doing... But I didn't hire a PA to do my surgery! Doesn't that matter, or am I so insignificant that I don't deserve to have the surgeon I chose (bad choice, but that's another story) do the surgery?

I waited and waited for my surgeon to come and explain exactly how the procedure would be done! Instead, apparently, a substitution was made, and my surgeon never appeared. The substitution was never revealed to me. I discovered this by examining my medical records where it listed Travis as my new and unknown to me, surgeon. Travis NEVER explained to me who he was, why he was in my room, or told me that he was my new surgeon, let alone that he was a physicians ASSISTANT in a position of authority and under the guise of somebody who was going to pretend that he was equal in every way to the surgeon. Imagine the confusion if this physicians assistant could claim that he was an associate of the surgeon. By which terminology I would have assumed that he was another MD! Would he have told me that he was an associate? Or would he still have decided to conceal his entire role in my care? I thought he was yet another nurse. This is all illegal, but where I went laws were not relevant to care.

It absolutely AMAZES me that medical people are so narcissistic as to need to write an article like the one above. They want to be called something that they are not in order to feed their own ego, the patient be damned. If PHYSICIAN'S ASSOCIATE is now going to be considered the preferred term, then it follows that the office personnel, janitors, nurses, significant others etc. can also be considered associates of the physician right? These are the people that the physician ASSOCIATES with! Words mean something in the real world that the rest of us outside of health care inhabit. Stop trying to obfuscate the issue!

Did my phony doctor actually perform my surgery? Where was the real doctor whose job includes a lot more than showing up hours late in the OR, after the patient is drugged? Why is any of this OK in the medical world? If somebody hires ME, I can't then substitute somebody unknown to my employer! I can't send in a person whose training includes driving a school bus, say, instead of a full tractor trailer rig, in my stead! (different licenses and scope of training) Why is this fine at the hospital? What ever happened to THE LAW on this subject being followed?

I've seen this insufferably arrogant attitude in crna's, np's and now physician assistants. Any wonder why we patients are getting riled up?